The gifts of the Holy Spirit help the Christian in his or her spiritual life and in training others

During the General Audience on 3 April the Holy Father continued his catechesis on the Holy Spirit. This is the text of his teaching.

1. The Holy Spirit, the soul's Guest, is the inner source of the new life which Christ shares with those who believe in him. It is a life according to the "law of the Spirit", which in the power of the Resurrection already prevails over the power of sin and death at work in man since the original fall. St Paul himself identifies with this dramatic conflict between the inner feeling for what is good and the attractiveness of evil, between the tendency of the "mind" to serve the law of God and the tyranny of the "flesh" which subjects one to sin (cf. Rom 7:14-23). He exclaims, "Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?" (Rom 7:24).

But here is the new interior experience which corresponds to the revealed truth about the redemptive action of grace: "Hence, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:1-2). It is a new state of life begun in our hearts "through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5).

2. The whole Christian life is lived in faith and charity, and in the practice of all of the virtues, according to the interior action of this renewing Spirit, who imparts the grace which justifies, vivifies, and sanctifies, and with this grace comes all the new virtues which constitute the fabric of the supernatural life. This life is developed not only by the natural faculties of man — the intellect, will, and senses—but also by the new capacities that are added on (superadditæ ) along with grace, as St Thomas Aquinas explains (Summa Theologiæ , I-II, q. 62, aa. 1,3). They give to the intellect the ability to adhere to God-Truth in faith; to the heart the ability to love in charity, which in man is like "a participation in the divine Love itself, the Holy Spirit" (II-II, q. 23, a. 3, ad 3); also, to all the powers of the soul and in some way to the body, too, a participation in the new life with acts worthy of men elevated to participating in the nature and life of God in grace: "consortes divinæ naturæ ," as St Peter says (2 Pt 1:4).

This state is like a new interior organism, in which the law of grace is made manifest: a law written in hearts rather than on stone tablets or manuscripts. St Paul calls this law, as we have seen, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:2; cf. St Augustine, De spiritu et littera, c. 24: PL 44:225; St Thomas, Summa Theologiæ, I-II, q. 106, a. 1). 

3. In the preceding catechetical talks dedicated to the Holy Spirit's influence on the life of the Church, we have emphasized the variety of gifts which he gives for the development of the whole community. This same variety is evident in the personal life of the Christian: every person receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the concrete, existential situation in which he or she lives according to the measure of God's love from which each one's vocation, journey and spiritual history take their origin.

We read in the account of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit fills the entire community, but also each person present. In fact, while the wind, symbolizing the Spirit, is said to have "filled the entire house in which they were" (Acts 2:2), it is said precisely that the tongues of fire, another symbol of the Spirit, "came to rest on each one of them" (2:3); then, "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (2:4). The fullness is given to each one; this fullness implies a variety of gifts for all the aspects of one's personal life.

Among these gifts we wish to recall and briefly highlight those which the catechism and theological tradition particularly call gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is true that everything is a gift, both in the order of grace and that of nature, and more generally, in all of creation. In the language of theology and of the catechism however, the name gifts of the Holy Spirit is reserved for those exquisitely divine energies which the Holy Spirit pours into the soul to perfect the supernatural virtues in order to give the human spirit the capacity to act in modo divino (cf. Summa Theologiæ , I-II, q. 68, aa. 1, 6).

4. It must be said that the first description and list of the gifts is found in the Old Testament, more exactly, in the book of Isaiah, where the prophet attributes to the messianic king "a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord", and then names the sixth gift a second time, saying that the king's "delight shall be the fear of the Lord" (Is 11:2-3).

In the Greek Septuagint translation and in the Latin Vulgate of St Jerome the repetition is avoided; "piety" is listed as the sixth gift instead of "fear of the Lord", so that the prophecy finishes with these words: "a spirit of knowledge and of piety, and he will be full of the spirit of the fear of the Lord" (vv. 2-3). But, one can say that this duplication of fear and piety does not depart from the biblical tradition regarding the virtues of the great figures of the Old Testament, but in the Christian theological, liturgical, and catechetical tradition it becomes a fuller rereading of the prophecy in its application to the Messiah and an enrichment of its literal sense. In the synagogue of Nazareth Jesus himself applies another messianic text of Isaiah (61:1) to himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." (Lk 4:8). This citation corresponds to the beginning of the prophecy just quoted and goes like this: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him" (Is 11:2). According to the tradition taken up by St Thomas, the gifts of the Holy Spirit "are named by Scripture as they exist in Christ, according to the text of Isaiah", but they are met again, derived from Christ, in the Christian soul (cf. I-II, q. 68, a. 1).

The biblical references just cited have been compared to the fundamental dispositions of the human soul, considered in light of its supernatural elevation and the infused virtues themselves. The medieval theology of the seven gifts was thus developed, which, although not having an absolutely dogmatic character and so not claiming to limit the number of gifts or the specific categories in which they can be distributed, has been and remains very useful both in understanding the variety of the gifts in Christ and the saints, and in giving a good structure to the spiritual life.

5. St Thomas (cf. I-II, q. 68, aa. 4,7) and other theologians and catechists have found in this same text of Isaiah a guide for arranging the gifts in their relationship to the spiritual life in an explanation which can only be synthesized here:

1) First of all there is the gift of wisdom, by means of which the Holy Spirit enlightens the intellect, enabling it to know the "highest reasons" of revelation and the spiritual life, and forming in it a sound and right judgement concerning the faith and Christian living: as a "spiritual" man (pneumatikà s), St Paul would say, and not merely as a "natural" (psychikà s) or even "carnal" man (cf. 1 Cor 2:14-15; Rom 7:14).

2) Then there is the gift of understanding, which is a particular keenness given by the Spirit, producing intuitive knowledge of the Word of God in its height and depth.

3) The gift of knowledge is the supernatural capacity to see and to determine with precision the content of revelation and to distinguish the things of God in one's knowledge of the universe.

4) With the gift of counsel the Holy Spirit gives a supernatural ability to regulate one's personal life in regard to the difficult actions to be accomplished and the hard choices to be made, as well as in the governance and direction given to others.

5) With the gift of fortitude the Holy Spirit supports the will and makes it prompt, active, and persevering in facing difficulties and even extreme suffering, as happens especially in martyrdom: in martyrdom of blood, but also in that of the heart and in the martyrdom of illness, weakness and infirmity.

6) Through the gift of piety the Holy Spirit directs the heart of man towards God with feelings, affections, thoughts, and prayers which express our filiation with the Father revealed by Christ. It causes us to penetrate and assimilate the mystery of "God with us", especially in union with Christ, the incarnate Word, in filial relations with the Blessed Virgin Mary, in company with the angels and saints in heaven, in communion with the Church.

7) With the gift of the fear of the Lord the Holy Spirit puts in the Christian soul a profound respect for the law of God and its imperatives for Christian living, freeing the soul from the temptations of "servile fear," enriching it instead with a "filial fear" steeped in love.

6. This doctrine of the gifts of the Holy Spirit continues to be a very useful teaching of the spiritual life for us to give direction to ourselves and to train others, for whom we have a responsibility of formation, in an unceasing dialogue with the Holy Spirit and in a loving and trusting abandonment to his guidance. This doctrine is connected with and always refers back to the messianic text of Isaiah, and when applied to Jesus, tells of the greatness of his perfection, and when applied to the Christian soul, teaches us the fundamental moments in the dynamism of the interior life: to understand (wisdom, knowledge, and understanding), to decide (counsel and fortitude), to remain and grow in a personal relationship with God, in the life of prayer and in an upright life according to the Gospel (piety and fear of the Lord).

Thus, there is a fundamental importance to being in tune with the eternal Spirit-Gift who must be known from revelation in the Old and New Testament: a unique, infinite Love given to us with a multiplicity and variety of manifestations and gifts, in harmony with the general plan of creation.